1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatus for handling small articles and more particularly to a suction head assembly registering with a base for transferring a plurality of drugs, such as tablets or capsules from a supply location to a container forming a part of a blister-pack-type prepack drug card.
It is common practice to prepackage drugs such as capsules or tablets in blister pack card-like form wherein the container is provided with a plurality of sockets individually numbered from 1 to 30 so that the tablets may be successively removed, one at a time, from the card and consumed each day of a month. It is a time consuming operation to place the tablets in the individual sockets when assembling the card-like container. It is generally required by Law that the drugs be assembled by a registered pharmacist, thereby increasing the cost of packaging the drugs, particularly where a relatively large number of such prepackaged drugs must be assembled as needed or a prepackaged supply kept in inventory.
This invention provides an apparatus for simultaneously transferring a one month supply of tablets or capsules from a supply point to the sockets of a receptacle forming a part of the card-like container in approximately the same time required for the transfer and placement of one tablet or capsule, thus reducing the drug handling time to a minimum.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known to use suction or vacuum for lifting for moving small articles from one location to another, by creating a pressure differential across its opposing surfaces, such as for planting seeds in a seed bed as disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 2,704,685 or moving delicate waffer-like articles by air currents, such as disclosed by Patent No. 3,523,706.
The seed planting apparatus is concerned with the spacing of seeds and no arrangement is disclosed for placing the seeds in a particular location.
The waffer transferring apparatus is concerned with moving a fragile single waffer to a specific assembly location rather than simultaneously moving a plurality thereof.
This invention proposes using a suction head assembly having a plurality of apertures arranged in a predetermined pattern which cooperates with a base supporting a receptacle having a similarly arranged array of sockets for registering the suction head assembly with the base and the sockets.